Potato-bug destroyer.



A. LINDAHL. PoTATo -BUG DESTROYER. v APPLICATION `ILED DEO. 21, 1808.g3-1,440. Patented Aug. 17;"'1909 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. LINDAHL. POTATO BUG DESTROYER. l APPLICATION IILE-D EO. 21, 1908.

931,440.' ,Patented Aug. 17,v 1909.

l 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

i KL' y @Mya 51M AUGUST LIN DAHL, OF GLYNDON, MINNESOTA.

POTATO-BUG DESTROYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Patented Aug. 17, 1909.

Application filed December 21, 1908. Serial No. 468,143.

Z'o. al-lwhom. 'it/may v Be it knownthat I, AUGUST LINDAHL, a citizen ofthe. United States,r residing at Glyndon, in thelcounty of' Clay andState of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPotato-Bug Destroyersg' and I do 'hereby declare the. following to be afull, clear, and exact descriptiron of the invention, such as will en-.ahle'others skilled in the art to which it ap`- pertains to make andusethe same.

invention has for its Vobject to pro` .vide-an improved machine adaptedfor use to collectV and to destroy from potato vines and othervegetation potato bugs. and destructive insects. i

To the above ends the invention consists of the. novel devices andcombinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in theclaimSL.

. In;v the accompanying drawings, which' illustrate the invention, likecharactersA in! dicate like views.

' Referring. tothe drawings, Figure 1 is a view.vv in side elevation,lshowing the improved machine, some parts' being broken parts throughoutthe several away;;,Eig. 2 is. a plan view of the machine,

some parts. being broken away; -Fig. 3 is a. transverse verticalsection. taken on the line w? ofl Fig. 1;` and Fig. 4 is a view,

partly in elevation and partlyin vertical Section on the line wf* mf* ofFig. 1.

A, skeleton metal frame, as shown, made up Qfamarginal bar 1 and atransverse bar 2, is rigidly bolted or otherwise secured at its rearportion to projecting arms 3 of bearings4, in which latter a'rear axle 5is looselyvjournal'ed. On the ends of the axle 5jY are rear tractionwheels 6, preferably connected to said axle by one way pawl and jratchet devices not shown, but which .will

permit one of the said whels to move faster than the other in turningaround.

To the central front portion vof this frame is rigidly secured a heavycoupling bracket 7, the front ,end of which is pivoted on a flangedsleeve I8 which, in turn, works with threaded engagement on a' strongupright threaded bolt 9 which in turn is ri idly secured at its lowerend to.a yoke li e truck frame 10. The truck frame 10l is provided withapair of loose truck wheels 11 and a pole 12 'is rigidly secured to acentrally located forwardly projecting lug of the said frame 10. Asuitable hand wheel 13 is rigidlysecured to the upper end of theswiveled sleeve 8, so that by rotation, of

said sleeve, the 'forward end of the main truck frame 1-2 may be raisedand lowered.

Rigidly secured-to one side of the forward portion of this main truckframe is a fan case 14 having a downwardly and inwardly iY turneddischarge spout 15. In the dis-l charge spout 15 is a damper or valve'l,which, by means of a nutted bolt-17, is adapted to be adjusted so as tovary the vertical dimension of the discharge passage of the said fanspout. It will be noted that the l discharge passage of. the 'fanspoutis elongated horizontally in the .direction of the travelingmachine andis located slightly toV one side of the transverse center ofthe machine.A pair of curved horizotally extended gatheringbars 1 8 are secured attheir end portions by four depending bars 19 shown as of angle iron, thefrontarnembers` being rigidly secured Y,to the front portionY of mainframe bar 1 andthe rear members being rigidly secured to the transversemember 2 of said main frame. The said gathering bars 18 are locatedquite close to the ground and slightly below' the discharge passage -ofthe fan spout-15.

Working within the fan case 14 is a rotating fan head 14a, the'shaft 2Oof which at one end is provided vwith a driving pulley 21.

'The fan, as shown, is located on the lefthand side of the machine and,hence, at the righthand side of the machine there is a horizontallydisposed transversely movableendless carrier belt or apron 22 arrangedto run over rollers 23 and 24, which rollers are journaled in suitablesupporting plates 25 rigidly supported from the main truck frame, asshown, partly by one of the .depending bars 19 and 'by other depending.bars 26 and 2 7, the

former of which is secured to one -of the gathering bars 18 and the. twolatter of which are securedto the frame bar 1. The

inner roller 23 `has a projecting shaft to the rear end of which asprocket 28 is secured. v

A downwardly spring-pressed crushing roller 29 is mounted in suitablebearings 30 `onvthe supporting plates v25 and engages the belt 22immediatelyover the outer roller 24. A reticulate hood 31 is secured tothe bars 26 and 27 and to one of the bars 19, immediately vover thecarrier belt-22, but is open at its Ainner side. To the righthandgathering bar 18, an upwardly and outwardly inclined blade 32 issecured. By a reference to Fig.

llO

iok

gravit-y suspended scraper the apron 22, the l and crush ed bugs theyare blown trom the vines and 'flare in direciiors ooth forwardly andrear'- wardly from'their central portions.

Mounted in suitable bearings 83, on the forwardly projecting arms of theaXle bear ings 4, is a counter shaft Se povided with a spur pinion 35that meshes vviti, a spur gear 36 carried by the axle T he counter shaft34 carries a large pulley 3'? and a beveled pinion 38. A belt runsoverthe p ulley 37 of the counter shaft 34 an over the small pulley 21 ofthe tan shatt zo as to impart rotary'inotion at` a high speed to the fanhead 19, under advance movement of the machine. The beveled pinion 38meshes with albeveled gear 40 ot' a counter shaft 41. thrt is mounted ina bearing 42 on the rightA hand arm 3 and in a hearing l-5 of the framebar 2.' 'At its forwardly projecting end the counter shaft llV is provid44.. A sprocket chain sprocket lll and over the roller 23 so as toimpart traveling movement to the said apron in the direction of the'arrow marked thereon in Fig. 2, under advance movement of the machine.A. pivoted blade d6 engages 45 runs over the sprocket 28 of the theoutermostportion of same, as shown, having upwardly extended arms 47pivotally connected at their upper ends to the outer ends oit' thesupporting plates 25. l

. The operation of the machine is substantially as follows: lhenthelmach'ine is properly driven with its wheels straddling a row ofpotato vines, said potato vines will be gathered up by diverging frontends of the gathering bars 18 and will be supported thereby and thestrong blast from the tan discharged therethrough. Under thoaction 'ofthis strong blast the bues will be blown oit the vines on to the endlessbelt orapron 22 and'with'the latter will becarricd out-v ward and underthecrushing roller rihe crushing roller, when sot under the desiredspring tension, will crush and kill the bugs will be removed from theapron by the scraper 46. The reticulate hood or screen Ell serves tocatch the hugs as the same on to the traaeling :,pron 22 whilepermitting-the blast to tre-,ely onward through the said screen or hood.The amount ot air discharged from tl e `fan may be regulated byadjustments ot the damper.

or valve lo in thc discharge spout l5. After ed with a sprocketl todirectv @einen 'the vines have `been subjected to the blast from thefan, they pass, under forward bars 18.

By adjustments ot the swiveled nut actingsleeve 8 the gathering bars 1,8and the discharge spout of the fan and also the c0. voperating parts ofthe machine,

raised and. lowered for proper action on either large or small vines.

The machine while primarily designed for removing potato bugs frompotato vines may neverthelessbe used for a great many other pinfposeswhere it is Adesired to move destructive insect-s from vegetation.

ll'vhat l. claim is:

coi'ubination with a truck having forwardly/ divergi'ng gatheringendless apron and cooperating supporting bars, a crushing rollervcooperating with Vone of said apron supporting rollers, afan 'lo catedat the other side of.A ,said gathering bars and having a discharge spoutarran ed to blow a blast of air over the up er surtce of saidendlessapijon, and means said apron and :fan under the forward movementof the machine, substantially as described. f

2. In a machine of the kind described, the combination with a truckhaving forwardly di'verging gathering bars with a channel between th'em,of an approximately horizontal endless apron and cooperating supportingrollers located at one side of said gathering "bars, a crushing rollercooperating with one. ot said apron supporting rollers, a fan lo- 'catedat `the other side of said gathering bars and having a dischargespoutarranged toblow a blast, of' air ot said en dlcss apron, means fordriving said apron andtan under the torwardmovement of the machine, anda' reticolato hood located above said apron and which is toward thegatheringbars, tially as' described. y y

ln testimony whereof l aiiiX myv signature in presence ot twowitnesses.4

UGUST LlNDAHL.

substanlv'itnesses: l

Amen J. Swanson, Hiram D. KiLcoRE.

may bey l. in a machine of the kind described, the

bars With'a channel loe-I tween them, of an approximately horizontal lor driving' over the upper surfaceopen at that side" movement of themachine, out from between y the diverging rear ends of the gathering`rollers located at one side'of said gathering

